PHOTO COLLAGE: tips for an outstanding result
What should you be aware of if you want to achieve a professional photo collage?
This is a recurring question for anyone who wants to create a photo collage to gift to a loved one, a friend or to display at special occasions and enjoy together. We’ve prepared a quick guide to help anyone who wants to create a photo collage and is looking for useful tips on how to do so effectively without graphic design experience and without getting lost in the process.
Whether you want to create a photo collage of snaps from your graduation party, that wonderful weekend with your partner or to fill your grandparents’ living room with happy photos of their grandchildren to make them smile, these simple tips are sure to help. Because the real secret behind a good photo collage is if it’s designed and produced with the intention to really impress people! That’s the best place to start.
1. PHOTO COLLAGE: Choose the best photos
Your photo collage should include your best snaps.
This is the first important tip for creating a professional photo collage.
It might seem obvious but this is the key rule to bear in mind to make sure your photo collage turns out well. Depending on the person or occasion you’re making the photo collage for, you should first collect and then select a number of photos that you think are “the best” and most suitable for the occasion.
Then prioritise the ones with good definition and lighting, and those you think are particularly inspiring. A photo collage made from good photos, even if simply, will always be better than a photo collage created in a sophisticated way but with poor-quality photos. Don’t settle: if you have time, use it to search for the best photos – your efforts will be rewarded with the end result.
2. PHOTO COLLAGE: Choose the theme of the collage
Another useful tip: choose a main theme for your photo collage.
A photo collage containing “homogeneous” photos that are linked by a logical thread will be much more gratifying than a photo collage where the photos are simply put next to each other but don’t have anything that connects them, even if they look nice together.
For example, choose the main theme: the wedding, the christening, the birthday, the beach holiday, the arty city break or the mountain getaway. A photo collage that uses elements that create a dialogue with each other will be a collage that “speaks to you”. The photos will tell a story and link together, quietly creating a narrative that will add value to the collage and cause people to comment and talk about anecdotes and emotions relating to the photos linked by the thread you’ve chosen.
3. PHOTO COLLAGE: black and white or colour?
Another important aspect to bear in mind is whether to choose black and white or colour for your photos.
A photo collage including a mix of black and white photos and colour photos is not the best solution. It would be better to choose which route to take from the start, based on the availability of photos, their quality and appeal.
Whether they were originally taken in black and white or converted to black and white using graphic design programs, these photos should be grouped together and not mixed with colour photos.
If you realise that you have beautiful photos in black and white, and in colour, and you want to use them together, you might consider converting the colour photos into black and white to create a collage based on those two colours, which is sure to be elegant and make a great impact.
4. PHOTO COLLAGE: dimensions and formats of the images used
When it comes to the formats and dimensions of the photos you will be using in the collage, the key word is “variation”.
A photo collage using photos of different dimensions and in different formats will be more dynamic and much more effective than a more monotonous collage with images that have the same dimensions and format. In the latter instance, the photo collage will be very flat and boring, with a “grid effect” on the eyes, which will make it unpopular, which you want to avoid.
To make sure you don’t encounter this problem, choose photos in different formats and dimensions and intelligently place them in the collage, almost as if they are talking to each other. Almost imagine a path, running through the collage and giving it rhythm.
5. PHOTO COLLAGE: photos with few details are better
Which photos work better in a collage?
Definitely those that focus attention on only a few people, objects or focal points.
That way, each of the images will draw attention immediately to the main subjects of the photo, helping the link between the photos in the collage become clear. It’s better to prioritise clean photos, where you can see who the main people are straight away. The ideal photos will only have a few people in them who must be easy to distinguish, rather than photos that contain loads of people that crowd the visual field, making the final effect of the photo collage chaotic.
That’s exactly what we don’t want.
Give preference to close-ups, selfies of only a few people and photos that show a few people in the distance. The important thing is that there is no visual excess in the photos.
The secret behind an impactful photo collage? Put your heart into it!
We’ve already said it but we’ll reiterate: the secret behind an impactful photo collage is the care you take over making it. It doesn’t matter if it’s the first time you’ve made one or not, or if you don’t know anything about graphic design or photo editing programs. The most important thing is the care you take over finding photos, choosing them and picking the right layout.
You’re almost ready! Once you’ve found the photos, laid them out perfectly and prepared the artwork, upload it to our Gifta website and print your collage on your preferred material! You can choose from these interesting solutions based on your needs: